1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the technical field of improving the capability of equipment for usage in Earth and planetary orbit and altimetry. The principles of the present invention are also applicable to any diode pumped, solid state laser system.
2. Description of Related Art
The exploration of our Earth and space requires equipment and techniques that push modern technologies. For example, the usage of lasers is increasingly common, but many of the operational aspects of lasers stand in the way of their deployment, particularly in the harsh environment of space and their inherent relative low efficiency (typically <10% electrical-to-optical). This invention improves the efficiency of these lasers, as well as enables higher pulse energies and/or higher average powers to be produced from a given design than the current state of the art.
A chief problem is the management and dissipation of the heat generated in the usage of laser equipment. A laser head or crystal in operation generates significant amounts of heat, which if not removed would deform the crystal sufficiently to render it inoperable, or at minimum, greatly distort the produced beam quality and reduce efficiency. Conventional cooling techniques, such as a contact circulating fluid, present problems of their own, e.g., the usage of liquids in the cold and vacuum of the upper atmosphere and in space. Similarly, heat sinks and other mechanisms only go so far in the removal of the operational heat. For example, in most space-based usage of lasers to date, the lasers typically have significantly reduced lifetime than that demonstrated on Earth, and some have failed in short order. The harshness of the environment and the delicacy of these instruments can mean almost immediate failure if not manufactured precisely. The cost of launching such equipment, apart from all of the R&D to get there, is very high, and prohibitive for small planetary missions, unless this problem is solved. Furthermore, with the ever-escalating power requirement for lasers, these heat dissipation problems become ever magnified, necessitating a paradigmic shift in thinking away from current techniques, which become ungainly, insufficient and inadequate for future space exploration. Finally, the heat removal capability with non-fluid, conductive means, have not been improved upon significantly in the past decade. This design offers a method of achieving gains in performance, mentioned above, by using the produced heat and thermo-optical effects to the laser cavity's advantage. In other words, the thermo-optical effects are employed to improve beam quality and efficiency, rather than attempting drastic means of removing the heat.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has been at the forefront of technology for such developments. With the diverse needs of current and upcoming NASA space research, there is a growing need for laser equipment that has better operational stability for use in space, atmospheric and terrestrial instrumentation. Further, there is a need for devices, particularly—space-based devices that are more efficient, have greater operational lifespan, have reduced complexity and have lower in cost.
There is, therefore, a need for improved systems, equipment, compositions and methods that provide improved heat-dissipation capabilities for laser devices, that these devices be operational in harsh environments, that the lasers be operable in larger power ranges, and that the combination be able to function properly in difficult and extreme situations and environments.